#and I put agriculture
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I just played a two hour long game of cards against humanity with my family and I won but at what cost
#quil’s unholy underworld#cards against humanity#I can never look at these people the same ever again#my mother had her head in her hands at one point like oh my god I’m a terrible parents as she started reads cards about strap ons#my little sister kept drawing the smuttiest cards in the deck#though highlight was I FINALLY got to use my queer expansion pack in an actual game#and it was delightful#sorry to marsha though I didn’t have a good place to play you :(#one of my favorite plays was (non smutty) when the prompt was ‘when I’m president of the us im going to establish a department of____’#and I put agriculture#which cracked me up because there already IS a department of agriculture#and I won that round :)#anyway. happy holidays I just spent two hours making sex jokes with my family#kinda nsft#OH!#and I played one where it was ‘what is war good for?’ and I put ‘her majesty Queen Elizabeth II’
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one thing thats so interesting about being a vegetarian is you get to hear all about everyones hypothetical activism that they care about very deeply when talking specifically about your diet and why it's stupid, but literally will never bring up ever again in any other context
#good idea generator#ppl will honest to god hit me with a 'well what about the dmg caused by plant agriculture' when i say im vegetarian for the environment#oh please tell me more about all the things youre doing to try to minimize your impact on the environment#and all the things you know about agriculture. in your infinite wisdom of [checks notes] doing the exact same thing you always have#or is the argument that because individual choices make little difference that we shouldnt even try or talk about it in case its annoying?#its not necessarily that these people arent making good points also#its just that when you have these same conversations 75 times over and over and over and OVER and get nowhere#it starts to become obvious most people learn these arguments in order to avoid genuinely interrogating their eating practices#either on an individual or communal level. am not asking you to cut out meat or go vegan (not a realistic demand of everyone on earth)#but i AM asking that you please do some self reflection on why the idea makes you so defensive#and about what exactly is so terrible of the idea that we may need to produce and consume less meat#i thought about 75 disclaimers i could put on this post but honestly if they become necessary it would prove my point
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History and folklore nerd has been triggered by the incorrect timeline in a comics inspired movie, again!
In Justice League Dark, Jason Blood and Etrigan have been bonded together for 500 years, so since the 16th century, the Renaissance era. However, Jason is a knight of Camelot and Etrigan served Merlin. Camelot and Merlin are not from the Renaissance. Yes, the stories were still told, but the stories had a time period, which is the 5th and 6th centuries. If Jason is a Camelot's knight, then he was bonded to Etrigan 1500 years ago. There's a full millennium between the correct centuries and the one given in the movie, omg. It's a totally different culture he grew up with.
#jason blood#etrigan#dc comics#my ramblings#“nobody cares about this” I do it's important I'm tired of people treating history like shit#It's a totally different world 5th century Britain and 15th century Britain#and I'm tired of everything being labelled Renaissance which was a two centuries period#or put in the Renaissance when there's a whole ass millenium of interesting shit#like did you know women had more rights during the middle ages then during the Renaissance???#the other time I was triggered was with the Eternals and humanity who didn’t have agriculture in 5000 BC#like no that happened in 9000 BC girly#also just to have aliens give it to humans insulting how smart humans were
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wanted to take some photos of my van gogh hotots (van gotots?) but my plant light makes them look very ethereal
their mom is smashbox, my severe head tilt doe. because of her neck, she can't get into a nestbox or really pull any fur, so i put her in a small solid-bottom cage for the night of her due date so she could kindle in deep shavings. however, because she can't really pull fur, the kits still chilled a little before i got to them. rabbit instincts say that if kits are going to die, they need to be disposed of, so she had already begun eating them; i actually knew she'd kindle before i got to where her cage was because i could hear the kit she was working on at the time squealing (it was not particularly pretty, the condition it was in. helios the corn snake got an extra dinner that week.) fortunately, the rest of the litter made it out unscathed except for these two, who are down an ear each.
all in all, this litter turned out as good as it possibly could have. all but one kit is alive and well, fostered off to another doe. it was a good sized litter (six live!), and there were miraculously no sports (mismarks) and no boxers (eyeliner on only one eye)! like genuinely insane odds on that.
just watch the earless ones be the nicest ones in the litter 🙄
#show rabbits#kits#blanc de hotot#animal death /#animal injury /#i'm not gonna put this sort of stuff under cuts because i think you need to see it#you need to understand the realities of agriculture and breeding animals#sometimes it ends up with half-eaten kits and that's just how it is#that being said i try not to be an asshole so i will tag it#but like...this is what farming is. if you can't handle this sort of thing you probably shouldn't engage with ag content lol#or god forbid try to breed animals yourself#rabbits
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before things got so bad... or maybe some time in the future, when they've begun to heal
they deserve one so many good day
#sky: cotl#willowbird art#skycotl#sky cotl#tsadi#wasteland elder#yes I put them in a tunic like prairie elder's#I hc they used to be an agricultural realm like prairie#anyway I just <3#them
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i have once more Read a Book !
the book was jim morris' cancer factory: industrial chemicals, corporate deception, & the hidden deaths of american workers. this book! is very good! it is primarily about the bladder cancer outbreak associated with the goodyear plant in niagara falls, new york, & which was caused by a chemical called orthotoluedine. goodyear itself is shielded by new york's workers' comp law from any real liability for these exposures & occupational illnesses; instead, a lot of the information that morris relies on comes from suits against dupont, which manufactured the orthotoluedine that goodyear used, & despite clear internal awareness of its carcinogenicity, did not inform its clients, who then failed to protect their workers. fuck dupont! morris also points out that goodyear manufactured polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at that plant, and, along with other PVC manufacturers, colluded to hide the cancer-causing effects of vinyl chloride, a primary ingredient in PVC & the chemical spilled in east palestine, ohio in 2023. the book also discusses other chemical threats to american workers, including, and this was exciting for me personally, silica; it mentions the hawks nest tunnel disaster (widely forgotten now despite being influential in the 30s, and, by some measures, the deadliest industrial disaster in US history) & spends some time on the outbreak of severe silicosis among southern california countertop fabricators, associated with high-silica 'engineered stone' or 'quartz' countertops. i shrieked about that, the coverage is really good although the treatment of hawks nest was very brief & neglected the racial dynamic at play (the workers exposed to silica at hawks nest were primarily migrant black workers from the deep south).
cancer factory spends a lot of time on the regulatory apparatus in place to respond to chemical threats in the workplace, & thoroughly lays out how inadequate they are. OSHA is responsible for setting exposure standards for workplace chemicals, but they have standards for only a tiny fraction—less than one percent!—of chemicals used in american industry, and issue standards extremely slowly. the two major issues it faces, outside of its pathetically tiny budget, are 1) the standard for demonstrating harm for workers is higher than it is for the general public, a problem substantially worsened during the reagan administration but not created by it, and 2) OSHA is obliged to regulate each individual chemical separately, rather than by functional groups, which, if you know anything at all about organic chemistry, is nonsensical on its face. morris spends a good amount of time on the tenure of eula bingham as the head of OSHA during the carter administration; she was the first woman to head the organization & made a lot of reasonable reforms (a cotton dust standard for textile workers!), but could not get a general chemical standard, allowing OSHA to regulate chemicals in blocks instead of individually, through, & then of course much of her good work was undone by reagan appointees.
the part of the book that made me most uncomfortable was morris' attempt to include birth defects in his analysis. i don't especially love the term 'birth defect'—it feels cruel & seems to me to openly devalue disabled people's lives, no?—but i did appreciate attention to women's experiences in the workplace, and i think workplace chemical exposure is an underdiscussed part of reproductive justice. cancer factory mentions women lead workers who were forced to undergo tubal ligations to retain their employment, supposedly because lead is a teratogen. morris points at workers in silicon valley's electronics industry; workers, most of them women, who made those early transistors were exposed to horrifying amounts of lead, benzene, and dangerous solvents, often with disabling effects for their children.
morris points out again & again that we only know that there was an outbreak of bladder cancer & that it should be associated with o-toluedine because the goodyear plant workers were organized with the oil, chemical, & atomic workers (OCAW; now part of united steelworkers), and the union pursued NIOSH investigation and advocated for improved safety and monitoring for employees, present & former. even so, 78 workers got bladder cancer, 3 died of angiosarcoma, and goodyear workers' families experienced bladder cancer and miscarriage as a result of secondary exposure. i kept thinking about unorganized workers in the deep south, cancer alley in louisiana, miners & refinery workers; we don't have meaningful safety enforcement or monitoring for many of these workers. we simply do not know how many of them have been sickened & killed by their employers. there is no political will among people with power to count & prevent these deaths. labor protections for workers are better under the biden administration than the trump administration, but biden's last proposed budget leaves OSHA with a functional budget cut after inflation, and there is no federal heat safety standard for indoor workers. the best we get is marginal improvement, & workers die. i know you know! but it's too big to hold all the same.
anyway it's a good book, it's wide-ranging & interested in a lot of experiences of work in america, & morris presents an intimate (sometimes painfully so!) portrait of workers who were harmed by goodyear & dupont. would recommend
#if anyone knows about scholarship that addresses workplace chemical exposure#& children born with disabilities through a disability justice lens please recommend it to me!#booksbooksbooks#have reached the point in my Being Weird About Occupational Safety era where i cheered when familiar names came up#yay irving j. selikoff champion of workers exposed to asbestos! yay labor historians alan derickson & gerald markowitz!#morris points out the tension between workers - who want engineering controls of hazards (eg enclosed reactors)#& employers who want workers to wear cumbersome PPE#the PPE approach is cheaper & makes it even easier to lean on the old 'the worker was careless' canard when occupational disease occurs#i just cannot stop thinking about it in relation to covid. my florida library system declined to enforce masks for political reasons#& reassured us that PPE is much less important than safety improvements at the operational & engineering level#but they didn't do those things either! we opened no windows; upgraded no HVACs; we put plexi on the service desks & stickers on the floors#& just as we have seen covid dangers downplayed or misrepresented workers still do not receive useful information about chemical hazard#a bunch of those MSDS handouts leave out carcinogen status & workers had to fight like hell to even be told what they're handling#a bunch of them still do not know—consider agricultural workers & pesticide exposures. to choose an obvious & egregious example.
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sometimes i think about the fact my grandparents literally overnight just cut us off and im like. how did u even do that. does it torment you
#eeaao's 'how did you let me go so easily' moment. like i dont let myself even THINK about this too often#bc i immediately beat myself back with the 'if it's hard for you then imagine how hard it is for mum. her PARENTS cut her off'#but like. idk. my nan i couldn't give less of a shit about which is something i always find so interesting#bc even as a child with NO basis for it or any understanding of her behaviour both past and present i still wasn't Comfortable around her#like children are smart actually. i just Knew her vibes were off and i Knew my mum was weird when she was around#like i truly dont think i ever loved my nan even when she was a very frequent part of my life#but my grandad? i ADORED him. id see him multiple times a week and he's the kindest man ive ever met#and hannah what i told you about my mum saying certain people have magnetic auras THAT WAS ABOUT HIM#like i cant actually put into words what it was about him but people just wanted to know him and spend time with him#but he was weak and let my nan walk all over him and when push came to shove he chose her and now ive not spoken to him in 3 years#& i KNOW he loved me. he thought the world of me like it's a bitter unspoken thing between me & my sister that we KNOW i was his favourite#he used to buy me egg butties at agricultural shows when my mum said no and specifically ask for two eggs#he used to sit and eat his soup with me when he came over to do work at the house#he used to play with me. he used to smile all the time. i can so clearly hear the way he'd go ''iya [my name]' with his proper rural accent#or how he'd tell anyone who would listen 'she's tough as old boots that one'#and i could make him laugh like NO ONE else could and he'd light up and go 'give over' and he genuinely enjoyed my company#i KNOW HE DID. and i havent spoken to him in 3 years. he'll be dead soon#and i cant talk to my mum about it bc it's her DAD it is so much worse for her and i cant talk to my sister about it#bc she wasn't close with him like i was and she just shuts the conversation down and those are the only two people#who know my grandad and know what he meant to me so im just here like. he literally stopped speaking to me overnight#i stopped hearing from him i stopped meeting up with him im so so angry with him the love is still there i dont know where to put it now#why couldnt he stay. why did he pick her when she's a loveless void of inhumanity. why werent we enough#hella goes home#my grandparents on my dad's side are also not in the picture funnily enough but idgaf about them. she got that grandparentless swag
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everyday i realize ways in which i am just like my parents. all the podcasts i like listening to are just the leftist versions of the talk show radio my dad would listen to growing up
#at LEAST they actually care about facts but#the format is SO SIMILAR#jordan talks#like im listening to an episode on the monopolization of agriculture . like that sounds kinda boring right. lmfao#like if i put this on around some kids theyd be like 🙄🙄🙄 ugh pls just play some music or something
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The Impacts of Agricultural Practices on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
By popular demand (one single person) I present a semster's worth of research into the scientific uncertainty surrounding Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as pertaining to agriculture because oh boy. is there some uncertainty. Which is a boring way of saying the world is ripe with potential and the mycology is a blossoming field of research! Yippee!
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have potential to increase the efficiency of modern agricultural practices due to its beneficial impacts on crops. AMF are a broad category of fungi species that live in the soil and connect to the roots of plants, forming symbiotic relationships between them and other plants connected through the mycelium network. Due to their fine mycelium and ability to extract nutrients from inorganic compounds, AMF can access nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil and exchange it with for carbon compounds generated in photosynthesis by their plant hosts (Hodge and Storer 2014). This can provide crucial, often limiting nutrients to crops which otherwise deplete the nutrients in the soil with each harvest. AMF have also been found to increase plant resistance to pathogens, drought, or salinity (Cheng et al. 2023; Buysens, de Boulois, and Declerck 2014). However, the benefits of AMF to crops vary wildly, and in the wrong conditions AMF can become parasitic to their hosts (Hodge and Storer 2014). The complexity of AMF networks makes it difficult to ascertain their impacts, with variables such as available nutrients, soil conditions, or species involved in the symbiosis changing the results of studies. One component of addressing its potential use comes from examining how current farming practices impact the effectiveness of AMF for agriculture and the uncertainty obfuscating it.
Nutrients
Modern agriculture depends on ample fertilizer use to maintain yield output, which has heavy environmental costs, from excess nutrients causing eutrophication, to being carcinogenic and potentially radioactive, to the damage from mining and processing phosphate (Lubkowski 2016). One of the main advantages of AMF symbiosis is increased access to nutrients for the crop hosts, thus positioning it as a potential alternate source of nutrients. Understanding both the impact of fertilizers on AMF networks and how they compare in enriching crops is crucial when considering the potential of AMF in agriculture.
Over time, conventional fertilizers' usage greatly decreased the diversity of AMF species and their impact on crops (Oehl et al. 2004; Wang et al. 2018; Peng et al. 2023). Organic fertilizers resulted in nearly double the amount of AMF species compared to the plots using artificial fertilizers (Oehl et al. 2004). The composition of the fungal species was also different, with the species prevalent under organic farming more closely resembling those of a natural ecosystem. Furthermore, the dominant AMF species under long term, high intensity artificial fertilizer were less beneficial to crops (Peng et al. 2023). Potentially less efficient AMF species were selected for by high input farming as the crop would trade for phosphorous less readily due to the abundance from the fertilizer (Oehl et al. 2004). Less diversity in AMF resulted in decreased benefits to crops, suggesting that farming techniques that increase the diversity of AMF will be more beneficial to farmers (Oehl et al. 2004; Wang et al. 2018). However, Peng et al. found that the lower AMF diversity in fertilized fields did not cause lower crop yield, but did find increased soil stability and nutrient cycling (2023). As it was the diversity of the AMF being measured, the diverse and partially conflicting results are logical because of the different AMF species and dynamics present in each study. AMF diversity appeared to relate to multiple but inconsistent positive effects for agriculture and was clearly harmed by the use of conventional fertilizers.
Fertilizer negatively impacted the root colonization of AMF (Oehl et al. 2004; Sheng et al. 2012; Peng et al. 2023). Cultures taken from organic farming plots had a higher chance of inoculation and faster root colonization compared to traditional fertilizer use (Oehl et al. 2004). AMF species that quickly and more fully colonize roots would be highly valuable in modern agriculture, which prioritizes annual plants and thus would need to quickly renew relationships with AMF networks in order to benefit from the symbiosis. Potentially the particular species predominate under organic farming was well suited to swift colonization of the crops used. Alternatively, the diversity of the AMF species may have been the cause due to an increased chance of having a fungal species suited to the crop species. More testing is necessary to ascertain which variable has the greatest impact on root colonization.
Other indicators of fertilizer impact on AMF growth were not so clear-cut, as hyphal and spore density had conflicting responses to long-term fertilizer use. Sheng et al. posited that the limited benefits of AMF in fertilized fields could be attributed to added phosphorus causing limited hyphal growth in the top layers of soil, reducing the amount of root connections with crops (2012). However, Peng et al. found that hyphal length density increased with the addition of nitrogen and phosphorus in tandem but having neutral impact separately (2023). Potentially the negative impact Sheng et al. noted was influenced by a lack of nitrogen, but that would not fully explain the anathema results. Additionally, in two experiments fertilizer increased the spore density, potentially due to the fungi being in unfavorable conditions and consequently switching from an emphasis on hyphal growth to spores to increase their long-term survival (Sheng et al. 2012; Peng et al. 2023). In contrast, Oehl et al. found a decreased abundance of spores in fertilized fields (2004). The reason for the stark contrast in results is unclear, and could be contributed to different crop species, duration of studies, soil characteristics, or any other plethora of variables that without further study will not be elucidated.
Soil Organic Matter (OM) also influenced the relationship between AMF, fertilizer, and harvest due to influencing the amount of nutrients available to plants. The benefit of fertilizer on inoculated raspberries was significantly less pronounced in high OM environments, where the weight of berries had a negative relation to the amount of fertilizer (Chen et al. 2022). In low nutrient conditions with low OM and fertilizer usage, inoculated raspberries had small berries, potentially due to the host and fungi competing for limited nutrients. A similar trend was found with the fruit set, or percentage of flowers that produced berries. In an inoculated field with low OM, fertilizer increased the fruit set but in high OM it decreased (Chen et al. 2022). Furthermore, the highest fruit set belonged to an inoculated field with high OM and no fertilizer. Therefore, there is likely a limited range of available nutrients (whether from OM or fertilizers) wherein AMF are beneficial to crops, suggesting that future experiments concerning AMF and fertilizer must take pre-existing soil nutrients into consideration. Further testing is required to determine the optimal combination of OM and fertilizers to achieve the benefits of AMF, because as of yet the impact of nutrients on AMF networks is still not fully understood.
Crops
The AMF represent only one half of the symbiotic relationship, and so the hosts available to them greatly determine the impact of AMF. The harmful effects of annual monocultures are well established, resulting in decreased biodiversity and nutrient loss that could negatively impact AMF networks (Crews, Carton, and Olsson 2018). The prevalence of monocultures in modern agriculture raises the question of how the limited selection of hosts impacts AMF networks.
Crop diversity is clearly linked to AMF diversity. Oehl et al. suggested that the seven- year crop rotation method used in their experiment contributed to the high diversity of species, as they had more similar numbers of species in wild grasslands than is found in cropland that utilizes the same monoculture every year (2004). Intercropping systems were likewise found to sustain richer and more diverse AMF communities than monocultures (Lu 2018; Cheng et al. 2023). It is likely that the variety of the hosts provides a variety of symbiosis opportunities for differently adapted AMF species to bond with, thus increasing the AMF diversity and richness.
But as previously discussed, AMF diversity is not a clear indicator of benefit. Crop diversity may benefit AMF networks, but farmers are more interested in how that impacts crops. Intercropping results in a significant increase in yield compared to monocultures, known as over yielding. Cheng et al. found a positive correlation between intercrop yield and AMF diversity, though Wang et al. clarified that not all inoculated crop species in an intercrop system experienced an increased yield, further cementing how varied AMF-crop interactions are (2023; 2018). Lu hypothesized that the AMF nutrient transfers explained over yielding in intercropping system but due to confounding variables it was difficult to ascertain (2018). Notably, the yield benefits of intercropping were diminished in fields with high amounts of phosphorus from added fertilizer (Wang et al. 2018). Combined with the theory that less beneficial AMF were selected for in fertilized fields, the success of intercropping beneath conditions favorable to AMF suggests AMF could be a contributing factor to the over yielding phenomena found in intercropping and thus practice that support AMF are vital to intercrop systems (Oehl et al. 2004; Peng et al. 2023).
Annual crops dominate modern agriculture and thus their relationships with AMF are valuable to examine. The disruption of the soil from the tillage necessary for annual crops results in severe soil and nutrient erosion in a way that is unsustainable (Crews, Carton, and Olsson 2018). Tillage has a harmful impact on AMF due to severing the mycelium networks, so the practices associated with annual crops are already known to harm AMF communities due to severing mycelial networks and causing changes in nutrients (Peng et al. 2023; Sheng et al. 2012). Periods of bare soil between yearly annuals and destruction of weeds result in stretches of time when AMF have reduced host possibilities. Overall, the associated farming techniques used for annuals are not beneficial to AMF.
Annual crops also face the added complication of new plants having to re-establish their symbiosis with AMF. Due to the lag in benefit from AMF, short-lived plants may be less likely to invest in a symbiotic relationship with them. Perennial legumes with AMF networks had more growth than annual species, with increased nitrogen and phosphorous given to the crops (Primieri et al. 2021). It was possible the AMF reinvested in perennials over and over because they have proven to be good symbionts, whereas there was a time lag in reinvesting in a new year of annuals. Therefor agriculturalists using perennials may have even more investment in using practices that compliment AMF as they have an increased impact. However, the study’s results should be treated with caution as the perennial crop was an undomesticated crop species due to farming crops being mostly annuals and comparisons show that domesticated species can be less able to support AMF (Primieri et al. 2021). Because species react differently to AMF symbiosis, studies between annual and perennials were difficult to construct. However, combined with the associated practices of tilling and periods with decreased access to hosts, it is likely that AMF is more helpful to farmers in perennial systems. Though there is some uncertainty, the consensus of research is that perennial and diverse crops have more beneficial symbiotic relationships with AMF.
Pesticides, Herbicides, and Fungicides oh my!
Conventional farming heavily relies on utilization of hazardous chemicals to kill organisms that pose threats to crops, be they rivalrous weeds, hungry herbivores, or fungi plagues. While pesticides seek to target specific species or groups, the introduction of toxins in the environment often has unintended side effects that could be influencing mycorrhizal networks. Studies conflict greatly whether pesticides help or hinder AMF, in part thanks to the plethora of confounding variables involved.
The species involved in the system are a large factor in the effect pesticides have on AMF. Different AMF species have various methods of dealing with toxins in their environment, such as compartmentalization, producing protective molecules, and transporting pollutants (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Therefore, the response an AMF network has to pesticides will depend on the predominant fungal strains. As AMF are in symbiosis with plants, their species are also relevant. The application of herbicides to weeds limits the number of hosts the AMF are able to rely on. However, in some studies the AMF were able to recover after a few weeks, though their ability to do so was dependent on the crop species they were partnered with (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Other studies even found herbicides had a neutral or positive impact on AMF. Soil bacteria that associate with AMF can also vary in quantity and quality within the same field, especially species that biodegrade pesticides and influence their persistence (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Due to AMF being symbiotic networks, the species at play, be they fungal, plant, or bacteria, can all highly influence how the system responds to pesticide disturbances.
Fungicides potentially pose a threat to AMF due to being designed to target fungi. At IC50 threshold to control a fungal pest, three fungicides had no impact on AMF except for flutolanil decreasing root colonization (Buysens, de Boulois, and Declerck 2014). Pencycuron had no effect on AMF at threshold concentrations and was contact based compared to the other tested fungicides, which were systemic and infiltrated the body of the plant (Buysens, de Boulois, and Declerck 2014; McGrath 2004). Potentially the integration of flurolanil in the host plant made it more hazardous for AMF. Alternatively, contact fungicides applied through foliar spray could be less likely to contaminate the soil (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Azoxystrobin, like flurolanil, was a systemic fungicide but had lower systemic activity, which could be why it did not have adverse effects on AMF at the threshold level. Pencycuron and flutolanil were species specific fungicides, so the difference in impact could be attributed to increased effectiveness against a fungus similar to AMF species (Buysens, de Boulois, and Declerck 2014). At levels exceeding the threshold all three fungicides had significant negative impact on spore production, mycelium and root growth, and germination. Therefore, carefully choosing the type and quantity of fungicide is crucial to not harm beneficial fungal species.
When the pesticide is applied also greatly impacts the AMF as certain stages of its life cycle are more vulnerable to interference than others. Certain pesticides impeded germination, but multiple studies found that germination was not completely terminated, and that once the pesticide was removed germination was no longer impeded and AMF were able to establish (Buysens, de Boulois, and Declerck 2014; Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). In early stages of its lifecycle, AMF had a limited time to find a host and will die if one is not found. Pesticide interference should be avoided in this stage so the AMF and crops can form symbiosis (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Once established, AMF will be harmed if most of its plant hosts die, so non-selective herbicides can threaten them. They could depend on spores and colonized root fragments should they lack a host, however.
Pesticides vary in effectiveness based on environmental and agricultural conditions, confounding their impact on AMF. The history of the field being tested could greatly affect AMF networks. Practices like tilling and other soil disturbance made AMF colonies more vulnerable to being negatively impacted by pesticides, possibly due to not being as well established as an undisturbed network and thus less resilient. The sheer number of variables involved in studying pesticide’s impact on fungi deeply confound the results of studies.
The amount of exposure to the pesticide impacts to what degree AMF are affected, but it is highly influenced by confounding factors that make it difficult to assess its impact. Practices like tilling and other soil disturbance made AMF colonies more vulnerable to being negatively impacted by pesticides, possibly due to not being as well established as an undisturbed network and thus less resilient (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). The persistence of the pesticide depended greatly on soil condition, including type, pH, moisture, organic matter, and the ability for microflora to degrade substances, all influencing how much exposure the AMF had long-term (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Furthermore, the type, dose, and application method of pesticide was dependent on the crop being grown, creating even more variation in AMF reaction, and thus confounding studies. In one experiment, going over the recommended dose of a pesticide could either impact the AMF negatively, positively, or not at all, but in another it reduced the effectiveness of symbiosis and the amount of phosphorus transported to the plant (Hage-Ahmed, Rosner, and Steinkellner 2018). Due to the variety of conditions impacting AMF exposure to pesticides, it was difficult to gauge their impact on AMF, and uncertainty in this aspect of studying agricultural AMF held great uncertainty.
Conclusions
The intense networks of factors involved in agriculture systems mean measuring the impact of farming techniques on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is difficult. Given the variety of the fungal species involved in AMF networks, it may not be fully possible to have fully accurate generalizations about the impact of farming. With each system of unique combinations of hosts, fungi, and other soil microbiota comes new dynamics to be studied. This is further compounded by soil conditions, nutrient availability, tilling, and potentially many other variables not discussed in this paper. Uncertainty is rampant in this area, particularly as the usefulness of AMF have been discovered only relatively recently. The most evident example is in the realm of pesticides, where the intensity of the variability of results obfuscates broader patterns. However, there is growing evidence that many conventional farming practices such as fertilizers, monocultures, and annuals are damaging to AMF colonies and potentially diminish the benefits they can offer crops. If farming is to become sustainable while still providing enough food for the growing human population, healthier farming practices must be utilized. Though there is uncertainty, there is also great potential once we understand the factors influencing successful AMF symbiosis.
Bibliography
Buysens, Catherine, Hervé Dupré De Boulois, and Stéphane Declerck. 2014. “Do Fungicides Used to Control Rhizoctonia Solani Impact the Non-Target Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus Rhizophagus Irregularis?” https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-014-0610-7.
Chen, Ke ID, Jeroen Scheper, Thijs P M Fijen, and David Kleijn. 2022. “Potential Tradeoffs between Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation, Soil Organic Matter Content and Fertilizer Application in Raspberry Production.” https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269751.
Cheng, Yunlong, Xing Xu, Yang Zhang, Xudong Gu, Haohie Nie, and Lin Zhu. 2023. “Intercropping of Echinochloa frumentacea with Leguminous Forages Improves Hay Yields, Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Diversity, and Soil Enzyme Activities in Saline–Alkali Soil.” Agronomy 2356: 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13092356.
Crews, Timothy E., Wim Carton, and Lennart Olsson. “Is the Future of Agriculture Perennial? Imperatives and Opportunities to Reinvent Agriculture by Shifting from Annual Monocultures to Perennial Polycultures.” Global Sustainability 1 (2018): e11. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2018.11.
Hage-Ahmed, Karin, Kathrin Rosner, and Siegrid Steinkellner. 2018. “Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Their Response to Pesticides.” Pest Management Science 75 (3): 583–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5220.
Hodge, Angela, and Kate Storer. 2014. “Arbuscular Mycorrhiza and Nitrogen: Implications for Individual Plants through to Ecosystems.” Plant and Soil 386 (1-2): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2162-1.
Lu, Xingli. 2022. “Effect of Intercropping Soybean on the Diversity of the Rhizosphere Soil Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Communities in Wheat Fields.” Clean – Soil, Air, Water 2100014: 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/clen.202100014.
Lubkowski, Krzysztof. 2016. “Environmental Impact of Fertilizer Use and Slow Release of Mineral Nutrients as a Response to This Challenge.” Polish Journal of Chemical Technology 18 (1): 72– 79. https://doi.org/10.1515/pjct-2016-0012.
McGrath. 2004. “What Are Fungicides.” What Are Fungicides. https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/disimpactmngmnt/topc/Pages/Fungicides.aspx.
Oehl, Fritz, Ewald Sieverding, Paul Mäder, David Dubois, Kurt Ineichen, Thomas Boller, and Andres Wiemken. 2004. “Impact of Long-Term Conventional and Organic Farming on the Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi.” Oecologia 138 (4): 574–83. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40005539.
Peng, Zhenling, Nancy Collins Johnson, Jan Jansa, Jiayao Han, Zhou Fang, Yali Zhang, Shengjing Jiang, et al. 2023. “Mycorrhizal Effects on Crop Yield and Soil Ecosystem Functions in a Long- Term Tillage and Fertilization Experiment.” New Phytologist 2023: 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19493.
Primieri, Silmar, Susan M Magnoli, Thomas Koffel, Sidney L Stürmer, St ̈ Stürmer, James D Bever, and W K Kellogg. 2022. “Perennial, but Not Annual Legumes Synergistically Benefit from Infection with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Rhizobia: A Meta-Analysis.” New Phytologist 233: 505–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17787.
Sheng, Min, Roger Lalande, Chantal Hamel and Noura Ziadi. 2013. “Effect of long-term tillage and mineral phosphorus fertilization on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a humid continental zone of Eastern Canada.” Plant and Soil 369 (1-2): 599-614. http://dx.doi.org.webster.austincollege.edu/10.1007/s11104-013-1585-4.
Wang, Guangzhou, Chengcheng Ye, Junling Zhang, Liz Koziol, James D Bever, and Xiaolin Li. 2018. “Asymmetric Facilitation Induced by Inoculation with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Leads to Overyielding in Maize/Faba Bean Intercropping.” Journal of Plant Interactions 14 (1): 10-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17429145.2018.1550218.
#amf#fungi#Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi#science#agriculture#is it okay if i put cottagecore as a joke bc i mean mushrooms farming its basically cottagecore lmao#sustainability#something to nom on#environmental science#environmentalism
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Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia
8/12/2022 Salton Sea, California
#there's something poignant about this but I can't really put it into words#it's the dried up lakebed of the salton sea and the abandoned human structures and the life that still survives despite it all#i really can't believe these owls. they're all over the agricultural areas here#burrowing owl#burrowing owls#owls#owl#wildlife#wildlife photography#my photos#urban wildlife#i guess?#salton sea#california#california wildlife
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Do you have a full image for your Syd/Richie header? It’s gorgeous!
hi thank you so much!! 🥹
my uploaded header is the full image 🧡 it's just a one-off edit.
oh and i just want to thank everyone who left nice comments in the tags of my posted sydrichie graphic!!! it means a lot to me <3
#tarot card is from halsey's eyes closed single cover - lyrics from eyes closed as well#answered#i make a lot of graphics but i don't post them because they're incomplete concepts#sydrichie x put your money on me graphic is something that i want to make happen but we'll see#let me put this in my tags#*#*thebear#*edit#s: the bear#ch: richie jerimovich#ch: sydney adamu#sydney x richie#otp: the goddess of agriculture
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HI…….. IM NEW HERE CAN I ASK WHAT THE SPRAWL AU IS……… HOLDING UP A MICROPHONE TO YOUR CHIN
ARIOFUDB(eats it)
I HAVENT Talked about it in a while have i it’s because I got stuck writing it— anyways. may I direct u to the tag. it is an au so far removed from canon they may as well be ocs to me and I love them dearly and they’re in space and Lauriam and Elrena are like the recurring team rocket villain-friends and Xigbar has pictures from when he was younger and had thigh length hair. this is my pitch
#it is also technically an extrapolated COUNTER/weight kh crossover so (scoots you over to friends at the table) (sits you down)#ask#anon#space!!! Future!!! mecha!! Action!!#xigbar is already hot but if he took his — no come back if he took his hair out of the ponytail and like washed it maybe the- cmere#it also TO PUT MY HANDS ON THE TABLE has a lot of gore and violence as well as past vv and past srk - what happened to them Well;;#also a metric ton of worldbuilding that goes really in depth into society and religion and agriculture and such. It’s enrichment for me#to gnaw at it every so often#sprawl dandelions have been rotating in my brain recently. they die before the story starts but I lov them
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abt to apply for a real adult grown up job idk if i can handle it tho even if i get it 😅🙏
#i want a job i can sit down at so bad tho#manual labor job is gonna kill me#but idk if im reallyyyy qualified for this one and it might be stressful#but i hope i can do it#the description doesn't sound suuuper hard#but it's an administrative assistant in a county legal office#which sounds like something im in no way qualified for#but i have GOT to get out of my current job#bc it's really hard on my health#also this pays a bit more which is nice#but putting agricultural worker on my resume probs wont help me get it#i think im gonna say some made up job title like plant technician 😂#anyway. trying to make a resume is so hard 😬#my dad is gonna help me this time tho
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i have to make my cv. again???
#i asked my mom for help and she keeps it in a spreadsheet (my beloved)#so now here i go putting the 3 important things ive done in my life in that spreadsheet. i will not get the 'internship' im applying for#i know that. i barely have the credits. my grades are. below average. and i havent done shit relating to agriculture. but anyways!#z xarre
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:(
#youtube figured out I'm vegan and thus has just shown me animal gore i think I'm actually gonna be sick jesus fucking christ#i always wonder about the people in the meat & diary industry. i know there are good farms out there - my family had one#but the majority of industrialised animal agriculture is so traumatising for the people working in them#and that's almost never brought up by non-vegans#its always all about immigrants forced to pick vegetables. ok. bad. that's fucked up and needs to be dealt with#but you know what we also need to deal with? those being forced to work in the meat industry that shit leaves you scarred for life#i do think there are sustainable animal friendly ways to go about this i don't think most people could or should be vegan#i just think those who do comsume these products should have a bigger interest in animal and worker welfare#AND THE END OF CAPITALISM AND TORTURE OF ALL LIFE FORMS HUMAN AND ANIMAL#but they seem to not care? at all?#anyway thanks youtube for putting that shit right in front of my eyeballs I'm gonna have nightmares for the rest of my life
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stewart letterkenny unanimously voted greasiest little tv freak of all time. jughead wants to be him so bad unfortunately he got. imagine me shuddering. tolerable. after season one. stewart wouldn’t do this to me xoxo
#to be fair i have seen. 7 and a half. episodes of this show.#and frankly i’m not even supposed to be watching this i have books to read rn#however i simply must see the outcome of the election for presidency of the agricultural hall#my best friend wayne doesn’t want to run a smear campaign because if you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything at all.#just a nice man on a farm who mows people’s lawns for them so they don’t have to <3#this is what redacted from redacted wishes he was btw but i won’t put two bad bitches against each other#the other thing i like about this show is that it follows my rule that the protagonist MUST be the best and most entertaining character.#you’d think all shows would follow that rule but unfortunately we live in a society.#anyway. jughead could not do this is what i’m saying#to be fair to him tho stewart could not do many things jughead has done. but he CAN be a greasy little freaK VERY well <3#beth.txt#letterkenny
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